Game Development On BlackBerry Still Worth It

As an avid gamer I am always lookingfor games that are both challenging and fun to play, whether it be anRPG, FPS, Adventure, or even Simulation type games I enjoy playingthem all. One of the areas in gaming that has quickly gained momentumover the past few years is mobile gaming; gaming on your smartphone.Many people are finding themselves quickly addicted to games that runon their mobile devices, but is it really worth jumping into themobile gaming market?

Why mobile gaming?

Mobilegaming is growing at a rapid rate and already trumps most of the appsthat are used daily by users. According to the market forecasterGartner, the U.S mobile gaming market was worth about $1.53 billionlast year and is expected to surpass that number significantly bythe end of the year. In the U.S alone there are over 100 millionmobile gamers, and mobile games account for 93 percent of appdownloads. (nielsen research) This means Americans love their mobilegames, but what kind of profit can be seen? Research also shows thatmost people are willing to pay for games more than any other kind ofapp.

Why develop games for BlackBerry?

Waita minute here, isn't RIM dead? Aren't developersleaving the BlackBerry platform? In case you answered yes to thosequestions you may to take a look at some of the factsagain, and take a look at the real status of developerinterest for BlackBerry. The bottom line is that it pays todevelop games for BlackBerry; it literally does. A surveyconducted by Vision Mobile suggests that the average developer canmake more money a month from a BlackBerry app, than an iOS or Androidapp. (kotaku.com) The average BlackBerry app generates 43% more daily downloadsthan the average iOS app and 48% more daily downloads that theaverage Android app. (Research2Guidance,Aug 2011) Mobile gamingapplications are by far the most rewarding application category.

Inaddition to the profit perks, RIM has an all-star line up ofspecialized companies like tat for innovative design, Scoreloop forsocial ecosystem, and certicom for security. All of these companieshave proven themselves within their respective industries. As adeveloper it is nice to know you have the support of provencompanies. Game developers have options as well, they can write appswith C++, Native SDK (NDK), Scoreloop and BBM integration.

Moredevelopers need to realize that RIM has made it both beneficial andrewarding to develop for their platform. RIM has seen developerregistrations increase year to year, and more developers are findingout just how easy it is to develop for BlackBerry. I am excited tosee some new games coming out within the next few months.